‘Thunderbolts*’ launches with $162m at global box office; ‘Sinners’ hits $237m | News

Worldwide box office: May 2-4

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates. 

‘Thunderbolts*’ shows box office promise

This year’s summer blockbuster season (May to August) has made a decent start with an estimated $162.1m debut for the first film to land: Disney/Marvel’s Thunderbolts*.

International markets, with an estimated $86.1m, edged out North America, estimated at $76.0m.

These numbers represent a recovery on 2024, where the US guild strikes impacted the release calendar, creating conditions for a tardy start to the summer season.

Exactly a year ago, Universal’s The Fall Guy shouldered the responsibility of launching the summer blockbuster season – beginning with a subtle $65.4m worldwide (on its way to a $181.1m total). Universal had nabbed the prime slot in the calendar vacated by Disney/Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which slid to a July 2024 release date due to the disruption of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Thunderbolts* has achieved the third-biggest opening number for a US studio film in 2025 – in North America, in international markets and globally – behind A Minecraft Movie and Captain America: Brave New World.

Comparisons with previous Marvel films are a little tricky to frame, since Thunderbolts* is a fresh proposition for film audiences (like Ant-Man, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings and Eternals), but the film benefits from a number of characters already established on screen (notably Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, from Black Widow).

Disney estimates that in international markets, Thunderbolts* has opened 45% ahead of Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, 13% ahead of Ant-Man and 7% ahead of Guardians Of The Galaxy in like-for-like markets excluding China.

Top international market is China with an estimated $10.4m, ahead of UK/Ireland ($7.7m), Mexico ($7.3m), Brazil ($4.0m) and France ($3.8m). Next come Germany ($3.6m), South Korea ($3.5m), Australia ($3.4m), Japan ($3.2m) and Spain ($2.8m).

IMAX grossed an estimated $18.1m on the title – 11% of the $162.1m total.

Disney reports a 4.5/5 overall PostTrak score in North America, and powerful reviews and social sentiment globally, giving hopes for a decent sustain. Thunderbolts* looks set to dominate the market for three weeks, then facing formidable competition from Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (May 23 in North America) and Disney’s own live-action Lilo & Stitch (ditto).

Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank, Paper Towns) directs from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo.

‘Sinners’ posts powerful hold

Warner Bros has achieved another powerful hold for Ryan Coogler’s Sinners in its third weekend of release, posting an estimated $43.4m worldwide, and taking the total to $236.7m.

In North America, Sinners fell a subtle 28% from the previous session, with estimated third-weekend takings of $33.0m. For international, the drop was 27% in holdover markets, with estimated takings of $10.4m.

So far, international ($57.0m to date) is not matching up to North America ($179.7m), where the film’s Prohibition-era Deep South setting has particular resonance, and where films starring Michael B Jordan (such as the Creed franchise) have over-indexed.

Among international markets, UK/Ireland leads on Sinners with $13.8m to date, more than double second-placed France ($6.7m). Then come Australia ($4.3m), Mexico ($3.4m), Germany ($2,.7m) and Brazil ($2.6m).

Sinners has already exceeded the worldwide lifetime totals of both Creed ($174.2m) and Creed II ($214.2m), and will soon push past Creed III ($276.1m). The biggest box office hit for both Coogler and Jordan remains 2018’s Black Panther ($1.35bn worldwide).

Also for Warner Bros, A Minecraft Movie added another estimated $40.3m globally at the weekend, taking the total so far to $873.4m. The Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures title is the second highest-grossing film adapted from a videogame, behind Universal/Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.36bn worldwide).

‘The Dumpling Queen’ tops China box office

A relatively peaceful session at the China box office saw biographical drama The Dumpling Queen land at the top spot with an estimated $17.1m for the weekend, and $26.4m across the five-day opening period, according to local data gatherer Artisan Gateway. (Comscore has slightly lower numbers, as per our worldwide chart above.)

From Hong Kong-born director Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, the film stars Chinese comic actress Ma Li in a dramatic role – the rags-to-riches story of Zang Jianhe (aka Chong Kin-wo) who created the Wanchai Ferry food brand. Set in the 1970s and 1980s, The Dumpling Queen tells the story of the single mother who began selling her homemade dumplings at Hong Kong’s Wan Chai Pier to make ends meet – going on to global success with her brand.

The Dumpling Queen ranks fourth at the global box office for the weekend, with fellow novel Chinese release A Gilded Game in sixth place. The actioner stars Andy Lau – whom The Dumpling Queen’s Andrew Lau Wai-Keung directed in Infernal Affairs back in 2002.

Also novel in the top 10 chart is Indian crime thriller Raid 2, sequel to 2018’s Raid. Director Raj Jumar Gupta reunites with star Ajay Devgn – playing a fearless income tax inspector taking on pollical corruption and white-collar crime.